Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-07-09
Bill Nye,s Fourth Of July Grafton.

~
since the most successful and most
prosperous republic known thu;
far to history, sent forth upon the
Sultry air it's first feeble cry. Ones;;
'ilunlyed amt leeleyefward IN a awoon as
, sv. uttered. the last moaneend~cried:ss1
sssa e, llteasdll,'A t]l6es@ jammef her
purple fists int0olIsser wa!ery
eyes and made a few ,ultory re-
marks swhichswere heard in the ut
termostpart of theearth.
To day she is full grown per-;
son with dignifiel lnien, AMI has.
had IL statue of herself takeu;whichs
stanls in the harbor of New, York
and although she lights up the
country for miles around, with her
talltorch, there is-nos one who has;
i,o
Those who are to day within the
sound of my voice, and who are
over one hundred aud eleven years
of age, will perhaps recall to their
minds the deplorable condition of
things here in our young ind strug
Cling country az th.st time.
live moved out We, st in order
to secure more. freedom, the ven
turesOme savage filed US full far.
lows till we looked like Joothpick-
holders, end when we came back
Rtion,- the naughty Briton
-'e .1n fGiirl.ssshed us beneath
Glfe-,.,-y.....-.v 49,. N-Glle dcspoG.
Now, whenever the starry ban
.ney hangs out to greet the gentle
breeze, all, all are free. Little do
we know to-day, here in America,
what it is to suffer for freedom.-
Liberty does a good business here
i'll the United States now, and the
man who ruus outoi freedom shows
thai he is shiftles, man and a
poor provlder.
Only a little over a century ago
we dared not go out after dark
without a chilled steel corset, for
fear that the maroon-colored child
rem of the forest might let the pale,
shimmering moon light in among
our vital organs by means of their
crude tornahawks. Then life was
Indeed uncertain and disagreeable.
People remained at home rather
than return to their houses with
holes in themselves and wildly dis.
heveled brains.
Now a man can start out and go
any where il he will pay his fare.
And so we are marching on
What grand stride it is from che
despotism of a century ago, to the
long and short haul of to-dayf
What a mighty leap from the bar
barism OF u hundred years ago, to
the glorious sunlight OF freedom
which we enjoy now?
Where once the slow going OK
team and Belcher box wagon crept
through the wilderness, liable to be
scattered over the greensward at
any moment by the yelling lnjun,
now the patient newspaper man,
the member OF. Congress and the
Associate Justice OF the Supreme
Court, with their coats over their
arms, toll along the level sweep OF
railroad which they assisted to
build by means of their land grants
and moral encouragement, looking
ever and anon over their shoulders
for the approach OF the yelling
modern IDjun.
Times have indeed changed in the
past century. A hundred years
ago whiskey was sold at forty cents
per gallon, and every other man
you met was a statesman. Now
you have to pay fifteen cents tor
enough whisky to wet the bottom
OF a small tumbler and there hasn't
been speech made in the House
of Representatives for three years
that was listened to by anbody but
the stenographer.
So Liberty, while charging her
l6ield, nas Res always as,S!is3ated
the condition of mhnKlhd. We
are prone to boast over the enor
nous mass of freedom which We
have accumulated here in America
and yet the freedom Of the press
has been greatly impaired, if !
may be allowed that expression.
i. Too much caste has been the re
suit Of recent laws, Aayear ago.